Tuesday, June 21st, 2022

Father's Day celebrates our fathers, the commitment they have shown us, the sacrifices made for us, and the love and guidance given us throughout our lives. While not everyone can say they have benefited from their relationship with their earthly father, we all have the opportunity to benefit from a relationship with our Heavenly Father. The buzz word of my generation growing up was “self-esteem”— growing up and having opportunities to see ourselves in a positive light and regard ourselves favorably. Often, I can say at least for me, this was more of an exercise in garnering external affirmation and respect. It was me seeing myself positively because of the way others saw me. It was a recipe for failure, and is still today for people young and old. Self-esteem can’t fill what a lack of self-identity leaves empty. What are we growing to positively see in ourselves if we do not know what who we are? Who we are is a challenging question though. I go to the only word of truth this world has, the Word of God, for answers. The Book of John says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” We have the opportunity before us to be children of God — loved, guided, committed to, and sacrificed for by God himself. All those who feel as though they have an empty place in their identity — it is becoming a child of God that fills it. Today, if that’s you, believe with your heart and profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and died for you, and you, too, will become a child of God with a Father who gives all you need and more.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” — John 1:12-13